'Israel' proposes plan to UN for dismantling UNRWA
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Some UN officials see the Israeli plan as an attempt to portray the UN as unwilling to cooperate if there is famine in Gaza.
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Israeli settlers calling for the dismantling of UNRWA outside its offices in al-Quds, on March 20, 2024 (AP)
According to UN sources, "Israel" has proposed to the UN that its aid agency in the Palestinian territories, UNRWA, be dismantled and its staff transferred to a successor organization responsible for large-scale food delivery into Gaza.
Herzi Halevi, the Israeli chief of general staff, offered the plan late last week to UN officials in "Israel" who passed it to the organization's Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on Saturday, according to Israeli media who cited people familiar with the conversations.
UNRWA did not take part in the negotiations since Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have refused any contact with the organization amid false Israeli accusations that it colluded with Palestinian resistance factions.
Following weeks of a nonstop Israeli targeted campaign against the UN agency, UNRWA said in an unpublished report that some of its staffers were coerced into falsely stating that they had ties with the Palestinian Resistance movement - Hamas- - and that they took part in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7 last year, Reuters reported.
The occupation entity alleged in January that 12 of the 12,000 UNRWA members in Gaza participated in the October operation.
Meanwhile, Phillipe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, has reiterated that "Israel" provided no evidence against the accused agency employees, pointing out that it was "a deliberate and concerted campaign" to end the agency and its work.
According to the terms announced last week, 300 to 400 UNRWA employees would be first moved to another UN agency, such as the World Food Programme (WFP), or to a new organization specifically established to distribute food supplies in Gaza.
In the future, more UNRWA staff and assets may be transferred. The details of who would oversee any new agency created under the program, as well as who would provide security for its delivery, were unclear.
Tamara Alrifai, the organization's director of external relations stated that “UNRWA has not been systematically privy to conversations related to coordinating humanitarian aid in Gaza."
Some UN officials regard the Israeli proposal as an attempt to portray the UN as unwilling to cooperate in the event of a famine in Gaza, which humanitarian agencies fear is imminent.
Others in the UN believe that the Israeli proposal is the final nail in the coffin of UNRWA, with one official calling it an attempt for the agency to be "completely managed" by the Israelis.
“We would be playing into so many political agendas if we allowed this to happen.”
UNRWA 'so much more than food distribution'
Alrifai stressed that the small size of the proposed new aid distribution entity would limit its capacity to successfully provide help in Gaza at a time when it is most needed. If WFP were to take on the task, they would need UNRWA trucks and warehouses and distribute around or in UNRWA shelters, she argued.
"So they're going to need at a minimum the same infrastructure that we have, including the human resources."
She emphasized that UNRWA was "so much more than food distribution," since the agency runs 7 healthcare centers in Gaza, giving over 53,000 vaccines since the war began.
Antonio Guterres has fully supported the agency to this day, expressing during a visit to a refugee camp in Jordan that it would be "cruel and incomprehensible" to stop the services to Palestinians.
Chris Gunness, a former UNRWA spokesperson, expressed that it was "outrageous that UN agencies like WFP and senior UN officials are engaging in discussions about dismantling UNRWA," adding that only the UN General Assembly can change the agency's mandate "not the secretary general and certainly not a single member state.”
US $1.2tln bill examined: UN agencies funding cut, ‘Israel’ aid passed
The double standards continue to shine in the US Congress after it overwhelmingly passed a $1.2 trillion budget bill, which not only included a ban on UNRWA funding until 2025 and stopped funding the UN Commission of Inquiry against "Israel" but also funneled the money instead toward the annual US security commitment of $3.3 billion for "Israel's" weapon supplies.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz took to X to obviously praise the US for its decision.
The US decision to halt funding to @UNRWA is a clear vote of no confidence in @UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres.
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) March 23, 2024
Under his leadership, UNRWA has become a terrorist arm of Hamas, with its employees involved in the horrific massacre on October 7.
Anyone who refuses to condemn…
"The historic ban on US funding to UNRWA that passed today with an overwhelming bipartisan support, demonstrates what we knew all along: UNRWA is part of the problem and can not be part of the solution. UNRWA will not be a part of Gaza's landscape in the aftermath of Hamas," he said.
The UN and other international organizations funded in the bill are told to assess and report on attempts to combat anti-"Israel" bias. To examine personnel for alleged connections to terrorist groups, the bill withholds funds from the UN Human Rights Council for what it calls anti-"Israel" actions.
New terms on any assistance to Gaza are also included in the bill, such as coordination with "Israel", prevention of diversion to the Palestinian Resistance, and a requirement for third-party monitoring, according to the House Republicans on the Appropriations Committee.
